Category: Agriculture
Feature story: Seeds for a brighter future
Feb 01, 2019 (LBO) – Rajnikansan Arushanandi’s son Brideman is in Grade 5 but he knows more about gardening than she does.“He has been learning at school and he comes home and tells us about organic fertilizer preparation, and how nutritional green leaves can be grown,” she says. Another mother, Sobana Muhundan sees her son Sibiraj […]
New website to provide early warning signals for paddy, vegetable producers
Jan 30, 2019 (LBO) – Socio-Economic and Planning Centre of the Department of Agriculture has launched a new website for Sri Lankan farmers, which aims to provide updated information in order to educate them to make productive decisions regarding their crops. This website is a useful information source for farmers, consumers, agricultural producers and food processing institutions […]
Plantation companies agree to increase basic wage of plantation workers to Rs700
Jan 25, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lankan Plantation Companies and trade unions have agreed to increase the daily basic wage of plantation workers to 700 rupees with an additional 50 rupees under the Price Share Supplement (PSS). Further, 100 million rupees will also be allocated to the Plantation Companies out of the funds of Tea […]
” armyworm cannot be practically eradicated: UNFAO
Jan 24, 2019 (LBO) – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) says that the Fall Armyworm (FAW) known as ‘Sena’ cannot be practically eradicated once established in a new area and it becomes one more pest that farmers need to learn about and manage.In the absence of natural control or good management, the FAW can […]
Jaffna to New York’s Wall Street and back to Jaffna
By Jekhan Aruliah Back in the day Raj Janan’s father was a successful industrialist in Jaffna, owning at various times an aluminium factory, a knitwear factory, a private hospital and a newspaper. Janan’s childhood was disrupted by the JVP insurrection in 1971 when he was 11 years old.One consequence of which was the family was […]
Sri Lanka Army leads flood relief work in the North
Dec 27, 2018 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Army have rescued a number of people stranded due to the prevailing adverse weather condition in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts that experienced a heavy rainfall resulting in flooding. Army troops have commenced providing immediate rescue and relief assistance, evacuation and relocation, medical assistance, cooked meals and other […]
Dr. Ravi Perumalpillai, Oxford Surgeon who became a Jaffna Farmer
By Jekhan Aruliah I write this piece as my appreciation of a Diasporan who came back to Jaffna and made a difference, sowing economic and medical seeds in the North. A friend who passed away in Colombo on 9th December 2018, and whose ashes were scattered in Jaffna four days later. I first met Ravi […]
Sri Lanka signs agreement with FAO & China to strengthen fruit value chain
Dec 07, 2018 (LBO) – The signing ceremony of the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Tripartite Agreement between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), China, and Sri Lanka took place at FAO headquarters on 6 December 2018. Food and Agriculture Organization said the aim of this South-South Cooperation project is to help Sri Lanka […]
Planters’ Association says 100-pct increase in daily basic wage not sustainable
Dec 07, 2018 (LBO) – Planters’ Association of Ceylon has reiterated the position of its membership that a 100 percent increase in daily basic wages as demanded by the trade unions simply cannot be sustained by the industry. The comments came in the wake of an indefinite strike action declared by the trade union leaders of the […]
Entrepreneurs in Jaffna? Take a look in Ammachi!
By Jekhan Aruliah Soon after I moved to Jaffna in 2015 I heard rumours of this fantastic food court run by war widows. Friends driving North from Colombo said they found it somewhere on the A9 near Killinochchi in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. It was a year before I actually got round to visiting the […]
‘s Watawala Plantations records PAT of Rs.554Mn
Nov 09, 2018 (LBO) – Watawala Plantations PLC reported a profit after tax (PAT) of 554 million rupees for the six months ended 30 September 2018. The Company achieved a PAT of 358 million rupees in the second quarter (Q2) compared to the first quarter (Q1) PAT of 196 million rupees. The increase in the production […]
Sri Lanka tea prices mixed in Oct 2018
Nov 09, 2018 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s low growns teas continued to meet with good demand, whilst high and mid grown small leaf teas continued to witness downward pressure in prices following the lower quality and the higher volumes on offer, a recent report said. “National average for the month of October 2018 totalled Rs.586.19 […]